The 1943 volume of this series kicks off in a pop vein with
Tommy Dorsey (and
Frank Sinatra) on "There Are Such Things," and it pretty much sets the tone for most of the hour and ten minutes that follow -- only
the Mills Brothers' "Paper Doll" and
the Ink Spots' "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" show much in the way of adventure beyond the pop vein. But this doesn't mean the CD isn't good listening, from
Harry James to
Vaughn Monroe.
Benny Goodman,
Tommy Dorsey,
Bing Crosby,
Dick Haymes, and
Dinah Shore each appear more than once, and such early-'40s stalwarts as
Kay Kyser and
Glenn Miller are present as well, and the influence of the movies is represented by contributions from
Judy Garland ("Zing Went the Strings of My Heart," "For Me and My Gal") and Dooley Wilson ("As Time Goes By," taken right off the film soundtrack). And the perennially popular
Xavier Cugat and his instrumental rhumba version of "Brazil" is also a reminder of the first cinematic use of that song (long before Terry Gilliam), in The Gang's All Here. As with most of the rest of this series, the sound is very good, and there is no annotation -- it's just plain fun listening.